Polymer Vision (PV) is on again — the Eindhoven, Netherlands based company has shown remarkable resilience in achieving funding even in tough economic times. The company recently announced that they are emerging as a division within the Mobile Business Group of ODM supplier Wistron (Taipei, Taiwan). They will soon be restarting operations with a continued focus on mass production of the "Readius" rollable display device.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

This is good news for PV, as well as Wistron, who gets a relatively mature technology (the world’s first foldable display pocket reader ready for production), plus a unique patent portfolio of some 82 registered patents and 20 more in the pipeline from some $60M direct investment.

But perhaps the bigger story here is Taiwan’s emergence as the leading e-paper manufacturing center of the world. PVI has E Ink; AUO has SiPix; Delta is working with Bridgestone and now Wistron has Polymer Vision.

Even before the Polymer Vision / Wistron deal, this was showing up on the radar screen of the Japanese CE makers. An article in Japan based NEA (Nikkei Electronics Asia) documents the shift this way:

"At a panel discussion held in Japan at the end of June 2009, panelists including engineers in the e-paper field commented on how e-paper had suddenly relocated to Taiwan, and wondered if there wasn’t anything that could be done. As a result of the abrupt industry restructuring, the promising e-paper industry has concentrated in Taiwan, alarming many people in the field in Japan."

The story goes on to lament that Sony could have, but didn’t snap up E Ink while the getting was good. The company has been buying E Ink panels since 2004. Reportedly, Sony was looking at E Ink as an acquisition target, with "top management having a strong interest in acquiring E Ink," and even said, "Sony …was on the verge of acquiring it," according to an industry source quoted in the article.

But fear not, there are other e-Book display technology offerings waiting in the wings that could represent a game changer in this space. Namely PixelQi with its low powered sunlight readable display that also boasts color-the Achilles heel of current e-Book offerings.

That display has just been announced in a new Asus "Eee Reader," where the (again) Taiwan based Asus wants to do for e-Books what it did in the notebook market-change everything with a pair of new home run products that include a low-cost reader and a higher feature (color, 3G, etc.) model.

We’re happy to see the final chapter in the Polymer Vision financial saga end on a positive note. The company is now planted firmly in e-Book Island (Taiwan) and will finally get its shot at consumer mindshare when the promise of this breakthrough technology is fulfilled in high volume manufacturing. Look for PV to enable a host of new mobile devices that incorporates a display that is larger than the device itself. But don’t get too comfortable, for as always, another technology is waiting in the wings. - Steve Sechrist